Flying target



July 22, 1941. s. H. BINGHAM, JR., ET AL 2,250,252

FLYING TARGET v Filed Aug. 25, 1938 Patented July 22, 1941 FLYING TARGET Samuel H. Bingham, In, Chicago, 111., and George J. Higgins, Detroit, Mich.; said Higgins assignor to said Bingliam Application August 25, 1938, Serial No 226,806

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in flying targets, otherwise known as clay pigeons.

The general object of the invention is to provide a target of such configuration as to practically insure breakage thereof into fragments when the target is hit by a single shot or pellet.

In trap shooting contests, a hit is scored only if a visible fragment is broken from the flying target. In many cases a pellet will puncture a target without breaking off a fragment visible to the referee and thus, even though the target is hit squarely, credit for the same is lost. In other cases one or more pellets will strike the target at an angle, which causes them to glance off without puncturing the same, but will break off a few minute particles making what is commonly known as a dusted target. This is considered a lost shot.

Another object of our invention is to provide a target of such configuration that the chances of a pellet glancing oh the surface are greatly lessened. In other words, the angles presented are such that there is greater likelihood of shattering the target.

Various special designs and auxiliary attachments for targets have been proposed, over a period of years, to give an unmistakable indication that the target has been hit, other than the breaking of the same into fragments. Most of these devices are not practical or have inherent objections, such for example as that they do not maintain the desired line of flight but curve one way or another, or otherwise perform erratically. These various attempts to overcome a difficulty which has confronted trap shooters for a generation, have not been successful, with the result the targets today have become fairly well standardized as a saucer-shaped disc of frangible material having low, annular ribs or beads on the convex side surrounding a flat center. These present-day targets, as heretofore, may be readily punctured by pellets striking them at certain angles and without breaking them.

Further objects of the invention are:

To provide a target having a plurality of depending circumferential flanges at the periphery, so disposed that a pellet striking almost any part of the available surface, will tend to penetrate more than one wall and thus if the first wall is in fact penetrated, the second wall will be broken.

When one or a few pellets strike a target, the blow may shatter the same initially, as in the case of conventional targets, or if a pellet should penetrate the wall which it strikes without shattering the target, the small quantity of material driven out of the opening formed by the pellet, may advance with the latter and, striking a second Wall, may be more effective than was the initial blow. Also, the pellet itself flattens or mushrooms somewhat from the first blow and thus strikes a second blow very effectively, even at less velocity, shattering the target. If the pellet strikes at certain angles, the path of the projectile may intersect three or more walls.

Present day commercial targets also are of fairly standardized weight, i. e. the targets of different manufacturers vary only slightly from each other. There are certain advantages in using a slightlyheavier target than those commonlyused, in that a small amount of added material steadies the spinning target in its flight. However, in adding weight it is not desirable to thicken the walls of the targets unduly as it makes then harder to break. It is another object of our invention to provide a target which may be made somewhat heavier than many of those now in use but without providing thicker walls. The heavier but thin walled structure is attained by increasing the superficial area of the target, as, for example, by means of marginal portions folded back and forth upon themselves, or, as expressed above, provided with annular corrugations. It has been demonstrated that a target of this configuration will maintain the desired line of flight when thrown from the usual spring trap.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a consideration of the drawing in which two embodiments of the invention are illustrated.

Fig. 1 is a top ,plan view of one form of flying target which embodies the invention;

Fig, 2 is a section thereof;

Fig. 3 is an elevation thereof;

Fig. 4 is a section of a modified form of target in the position it may assume during its flight; and

Fig. 5 is-a section of a modified form of annular flange.

In Figs. 1-3, the target Ill may be made of any of a number of suitable frangible materials or compositions, and is formed by a die, with a central disc-like area I I surrounded by a vertical bead i2. Surrounding this bead is a rib l3. The inclined walls l4, l5 make an inverted V-shaped formation or hollow rib, similar to a corrugation. The upper part is preferably somewhat below the top of the bead l2 and has a V-shaped groove Hi.

The outer face of the inclined wall l5 may be vertical, as shown at H, with a horizontal wall or seat l8 adjoining the same and comprising the top of a depending flange l9, preferably of larger diameter than the rib [3. The inner wall of the flange I9 is preferably flared outwardly and a bead 20 on the bottom of said flange may be provided, if desired.

As shown by Figs. 2 and 3 which are closely adjacent, these targets may be readily nested one within the other, as is customary, to facilitate packing and shipment. V

As stated, the walls of flying targets are preferably somewhat thin so that they may be broken easily and also to economize material, but on the other hand they must not be so fragile as to result in breakage in shipment or when being thrown from the target trap. In the form of target just described, the depending flange l9, which is engaged by abutments on the arm of the spring trap, is sufiiciently thick to resist the stresses encountered in the initial throwing movement and the relative proportions of the walls in general are such as to provide the requisite strength to avoid loss during shipment and in throwing the same, and yet to break readily when hit by shot or pellets.

The provision of the annular V-sha'ped groove or corrugation l3, in addition to the annular bead [2 (which latter is somewhat similar to the conventional design) results, in most circumstances, in the striking by the pellet of more than one wall when the target is hit. If the pellet strikes the flat disc II at a very small angle, the bead l2 lessens the tendency or chance of its glancing off or dusting the target. Where the angle is somewhat greater, the pellet will strike said bead or near the same and break it, and will also strike the rib l3 if the latter has not been broken as a resulting of the first impact. At a greater angle the path of the projectile may intersect the bead l2 and both inclined walls of the rib l3. Thus, with the exception of the extreme right and left sides of the target as viewed by the marksman, a pellet striking almost any part of the upper surface, has the possibility of breaking two Walls and will shatter the target in any case, i. e. it is almost impossible to shoot through our target, where more than one wall is hit.

Viewed in another way, this target has a number of free-edged flanges or lips susceptible of separation from the rest of the target by the breaking of a single wall, and thus the target breaks more readily than those now in use.

In the form of target shown in Fig. 4, a similar circular disc 21 is provided, surrounded by a vertical rib 22. This rib is surrounded not by one annular rib but by two annular ribs or corrugations 23, 24, each of which may be successively lower than the adjacent inner rib, although the drawing shows the top of the rib 23 at substantially the same level as the top of rib 22, which is preferable. The top of rib 24 is shown as substantially lower than the top of rib 23. Viewed from the bottom, the several inclined walls provide ridges or corrugations 25, 26, of V-shaped fomation, which may be considered as depending lips or petticoat flanges. The lower part of these ridges may be provided with somewhat more or less of a taper than what is shown in the drawing, one determining factor being the ease with which the target may be withdrawn from the press or molding device. The lower edge of the rib 26 is preferably in the same plane as the adjacent rib 25, although it may be lower, and in fact considerable latitude is allowable with respect to the relative positions of the corrugations, which may be increased in number above the two shown herein. The rib 24 has a lower enlargement with a vertical wall 21, as in the first device described, and the depending flange 28 or third petticoat has a flat top, and comprises the base of the target. A bead 29 may be provided in this case also, and the targets may be nested in the usual manner.

In the case of both forms of target, the central disc I I is depressed a substantial amount beneath the plane of the surrounding rib to further insure breakage in case of what might otherwise be a glancing shot.

In Fig. 4 the target is shown in inclined position somewhat as it would appear while in the air and being shot at. When targets travel against the wind, they tend ot tilt up to a more inclined position, but in any case they are intended to follow a straight path in the sense of remaining in a vertical plane radial to the trap. An assumed path of travel of the pellets is shown at 30, 3|, indicating how said paths intersect two or more walls and thus insure the eventual shattering of the target in case the same does not break when the first wall is struck. The dotted line 32 indicates the path of a pellet striking the wall or bead 22, said line if continued intersecting four separate spaced walls in addition to wall or bead 22. The upper surface of the target visible to the marksman has the general form of an oval when viewed from the vicinity of the trap.

As above stated, the succession of blows, with or without the flattening or mushrooming of the pellet, insures shattering of the target eventually, if not initially. When the pellet strikes the first wall, the blow may apply a stress to the structure as a whole, which makes it more easily shattered when the second wall is struck. Regardless of the correctness of these several theories of operation, however, the fact is that when the various commercial targets in use today are suitably mounted, for purposes of a comparative test, and shot at and struck at the conventional angle with a single pellet, the wall of each of said targets has either been penetrated or dusted in a substantial proportion of the total shots fired, whereas in contrast therewith, similar shots fired at the forms of target shown herein have resulted in practically every case in shattering the target, except for certain peculiar shots.

In the targets shown in section in Figs. 2 and 4, the inclined flanges are connected at the top or bottom, presenting a V shaped arrangement in cross section. Where it is desired to elongate'the point of the V somewhat without adding too much material, the form shown in Fig. 5 may be used in which the inclined walls 33 define a V shaped groove between them, which groove, however, instead of terminating in a point has its walls almost parallel, as shown at 34. This results in making the walls somewhat thinner at the point 35 and increases the likelihood of breakage, rather than otherwise, as where there is an added bulk of. material in a V shaped flange which tapers almost to a point.

We claim:

A flying target comprising a substantially flat central disc having an upwardly extending bead near its periphery, a downwardly extending rib immediately beyond said head, integral therewith and tapering to a thin edge at the bottom to provide a portion of high frangibility adapted to be readily broken, and an outer annular wall integrally united near the top thereof to the upper part of said rib, said annular wall flaring downwardly and outwardly toward the bottom, said rib extending downwardly a substantial distance toward the plane of the bottom of said annular wall and so positioned within said annular wall as to be struck by the shot which passes through said wall, and said annular wall terminating in a plane well below the edge of said rib.

GEORGE J. HIGGINS. SAMUEL H. BINGHAM, J R, 

